An Officer and a Gentleman

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

Timing: 2:4 (124 min)

7.009/10
1065

7.167/10
4404

7.1/10
67000

All about film

Video 4

Photo 19

Actors and characters

Release date

1982-07-28

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Lorimar Film Entertainment

Genre

Drama, Romance

Budget

$7 500 000

Revenue

$129 795 554

Website

Director

Taylor Hackford

Actors

Richard Gere, Debra Winger, Louis Gossett Jr., David Keith, Robert Loggia, Lisa Blount, Lisa Eilbacher, Harold Sylvester, David Caruso, Grace Zabriskie
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Martin Elfand, Merv Adelson

Operator

Donald E. Thorin

Composer

Jack Nitzsche

Artist

Audition

Nancy Klopper

Editing

Peter Zinner
All team (46)

• John Travolta, on the advice of his agent, declined the leading role offered to him in the film.
• R. Lee Ermey, a former Marine Corps drill instructor who later became an actor, trained Louis Gossett Jr. for his role as Sergeant Foley.
• The motel scenes were filmed at the Tides motel in Port Townsend, Washington. The room where the filming took place is marked with a special wooden plaque on the door, detailing this momentous event.
• Actor John Denver turned down the offered role, stating that the script he read seemed like a film from the 1950s.
• Actress Lisa Eilbacher said after filming that the most challenging part for her was appearing clumsy and pretending to be out of shape while completing the obstacle course.
• In the original script, the role of Zack's father, played by Robert Loggia, was much larger due to the fact that he visited his son during training.
• Producer Don Simpson persistently, but unsuccessfully, demanded that the ballad "Up Where We Belong" be removed from the film, arguing that the song was unsuccessful and would never become a hit. Despite this, it rose to the top of the Billboard chart and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Don Simpson wanted to replace it with another song called "On The Wings Of Love" by Jeffrey Osborne, which was released several months later and only reached the 29th position on the music chart.
• The song playing when Paula and Zack are talking near the jukebox is "Tunnel of Love" by the famous band Dire Straits.
• Filming took place from April 20 to July 1981.
• John Travolta, on the advice of his agent, refused the leading role offered to him in the film.
• R. Lee Ermey, a former Marine drill instructor who later became an actor, trained Louis Gossett Jr. for his role as Sergeant Foley.
• Producer Don Simpson persistently, but unsuccessfully, demanded that the ballad "Up Where We Belong" be removed from the film, arguing that the song was unsuccessful and would never become a hit. Despite this, it rose to the top of the Billboard charts and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Don Simpson wanted to feature another song instead, "On The Wings Of Love" by Jeffrey Osborne, which was released several months later and only reached number 29 on the music charts.
• Director Taylor Hackford deliberately housed Louis Gossett Jr. separately from the rest of the cast to emphasize his alienation, an element of the drill sergeant character.
• Lisa Eilbacher (who played Casey Seeger) later admitted that the hardest part during the filming of the obstacle course scenes was portraying being out of shape. In reality, the film crew emphasized that she was in the best physical condition of all the actors.
• Finding an actor for the role of the drill sergeant was not easy. The filmmakers approached several stars, but none of them expressed a desire to play the role. Mandy Patinkin (an American singer and actor) was liked by the producers during auditions, but his candidacy was rejected by director Taylor Hackford. Eventually, the producers moved their search to Florida, where they discovered that all drill sergeants were African American. This led them to Louis Gossett Jr., who was then cast in the role.
• Richard Gere and Louis Gossett Jr. trained specifically for the karate scenes shown in the film. Gere mastered certain karate techniques, while they did not come easily to Gossett Jr. During filming, Gere accidentally struck Gossett Jr. in the groin with a kick, after which he left the set and did not appear for two days. To avoid interrupting filming, the filmmakers turned to a karate master who acted as Gossett Jr.'s stunt double. Nevertheless, this incident did not affect the friendly relationship between Gere and Gossett Jr.
• The screenplay circulated through Hollywood for almost 8 years, but no one would take it on. Eventually, producer Don Simpson managed to convince Michael Eisner of Paramount Pictures, who was initially opposed to the project. The film's budget was $8 million, and the studio didn't expect much from the venture.
• The obstacle course was built specifically for the filming.
• According to naval tradition, a newly commissioned officer gives a silver dollar to the first person who salutes him. In the scene where salutes are first given to the drill sergeant graduates, played by Louis Gossett Jr., they themselves give him a dollar each. Also, according to tradition, the drill sergeant places silver dollars received from the best students in his right pocket. The dollar that Gossett Jr.'s character received from the character played by Richard Gere went into his right pocket, while the dollar from the character played by Tony Plana went into his left.
• In the scene where David Keith's character swallows a wedding ring, the actor actually swallowed it, and then the ring was pulled out with a thread tied to it. In one interview, the actor said that the scene was filmed after approximately ten takes, and swallowing and then retrieving the ring from his stomach was not particularly pleasant.
• Debra Winger's character shows the character played by Richard Gere a photograph of her father, who also dreamed of becoming an officer. In reality, it was a picture of screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart.
• Richard Gere refused to film the final scene, where his character arrives at the factory where Debra Winger's character works in full dress uniform and takes her away with him. Gere believed that this ending was too sentimental. Director Taylor Hackford initially agreed with him, but was forced to film the finale, and after seeing the result, Gere was glad that he had insisted on it.
• Producer Don Simpson persistently, but unsuccessfully, demanded that the ballad “Up Where We Belong” be removed from the film, claiming that the song was unsuccessful and would never become a hit. Despite this, it rose to the top of the Billboard charts and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Don Simpson wanted to see another song instead, titled “On The Wings Of Love” by Jeffrey Osborne, which was released a few months later and only reached the 29th position on the music chart.
• According to naval tradition, a newly commissioned officer gives a silver dollar to the first person to salute him. In the scene where the drill sergeant, played by Louis Gossett Jr., is saluted for the first time by the graduating class, they themselves give him a dollar each. Also, in accordance with tradition, the drill sergeant puts the silver dollars received from the best students in his right pocket. The dollar that Gossett Jr.'s character received from the character played by Richard Gere went into his right pocket, while the dollar from Tony Plana’s character went into the left.